A year ago, four private libraries in Jakarta agreed to develop a joint website where the public could access the catalogs of the four libraries.

Up until now, the website, www.pustakabersama.net, remains under construction.

“We’re having problems merging the catalogs. The job requires a lot of time, and we have limited human resources willing to devote time to the website,” Yanti Susanti, the head of Freedom Institute library, who is also responsible for the website’s development, said on Wednesday.

Therefore, she said, she outsourced the project two months ago to a web designer.

“We expect the public to have access to the collective catalog by the end of this month,” she added.

In the beginning, the online catalog will boast a total of 43,000 titles of books.

“The public can search for the desired books or resources through the planned website. The website will tell the location of a book, whether it is in CSIS or Utan Kayu, for example,” Yanti said.

She added that the four libraries did not allow people to remove books from the libraries’ premises, but could order particular books online.—JP